Wisconsin and Northwestern play with a Twitter hashtag basketball (photo)

Northwestern social media night made history as “#B1GCATS” (Northwestern sports’ official Twitter hashtag) was printed on the game ball. That’s gotta be the first time a Twitter hashtag has been placed on a game ball used in any sport.

Social media, especially Twitter, is growing exponentially and Chicago sports teams know it. Both the Cubs and Wolves recently had game nights centered on this theme. Last night, was Evanston’s turn with Northwestern Social Media Night. Unfortunately, the actual college basketball game didn’t go in NU’s favor. This was a chance for Northwestern to help sell their product, and the product was extremely defective as the Wildcats lost 69-41 to the Wisconsin Badgers in a game that was even more lopsided than it sounds. #unfortunate

Northwestern point guard Dave Sobolewski shows off the ball.

Media celebrity and Northwestern alum @darrenrovell was on hand for the game, but when he was honored the crowd reception was luke warm at best. There was a ton of Badger red in the house so that probably didn’t help. Darren Rovell left CNBC for ESPN, and he also does some work for ABC. He’s a huge supporter of NU athletics with a gigantic Twitter following, but he’s become so popular on the medium that he’s also inspired a backlash. #polarizing

Yes I’m using the Twitter hashtag over and over again

Since he works for the World Wide Leader now, maybe he can get them to stop using “NW” in their on-screen scoreboards, and replace it with the correct “NU.” ESPN is the reason so many people make that mistake.

Northwestern fell to 13-14, 4-10 in conference. #19 Wisconsin improved to 19-8, 9-5 and 11-1 against Northwestern since 2006. This game drastically hurt the ‘Cats NIT chances. Go here for an analysis of their postseason chances. #diminishing

A Fulbright scholar, published author and MBA, Banks has appeared on live radio all over the world; he’s also a member of the Football Writers Association of America, U.S. Basketball Writers Association, and Society of Professional Journalists. The President of the United States follows him on Twitter (@Paul_M_BanksTSB)You should too.